Car-coupling.



I. GAUSE.

CAR COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 15, 1915 1 M 976o Patented May 25,1915.

3 SHEETSPSHEET 1.

Emmy-5m:

THE NORRIS PETERS 60., PHOTO-LITHQ. WASHINGTON. D. C4

l. GAUSE.

CAR COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-15,1915- IL MQQWu Patented May 25, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

THE NORRIS PETERS 60., PHOTO-LITHO., WASHINGTON, Q. c.

I. GAUSE.

CAR COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 15. 1915 Patented May 25, 1915.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

. TF1 STATES PATENT @FFIQE.

ISAAC GAUSE, OF NATIONAL SOLDIERS HOME, ELIZABETH CITY COUNTY, VIRGINIA.

CAR-COUPLING.

ma am.

Application filed. January 15, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ISAAC GAUSE, a citizen of the United States, residing at National Soldiers Home, in the county of Elizabeth City and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improve ments in Car-Couplings; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to railway draft appliances, and more especially to car couplings; and the object of the same is to produce an improved coupling having a swinging two-armed knuckle, one arm carrying a loop which is engaged over the relatively opposite arm of the companion knuckle when the cars come together.

The invention comprises means for automatically swinging this knuckle in one direction or the other, and for holding it in locked position.

Details are more fully set forth in the following specification and claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings where- Figure l is an end elevation of a car equipped with this improved coupling. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through two cars, one being in full lines and the other in dotted lines, and their couplings engaged with each other. Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan View of the coupling, and Fig. 4 a longitudinal sectional View on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a still further enlarged horizontal sectional view on the line 55 of Fig. 4. Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are perspective details of the knuckle and its loop, the latch block, and the knuckle-carrying arm or link. Figs. 9, 10, 11 and 12 are horizontal sections, showing the action of parts as two couplings come together. Fig. 13 is a perspective detail of the head, shell, and stem of the draw-bar. Fig. 14 is a perspective detail of one of the side plates and onehalf of the casing for the draft-rigging springs. Fig. 15 is a cross section on the line 1515 of Fig. 4. Fig. 16 is a detail of the connection between the two end-members of the rock shaft which constitutes the means for raising the latch block shown in Fig. 7.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 25, 1915.

Serial No. 2,448.

In the drawings parallel spaced beams 1 extend beneath the car body and preferably have their inner faces covered with plates 2 which may be connected across the bottom as at 3 to form a channel, the beams and the side plates being longitudinally slotted as at -4 for the passage of a cross bar 5 whose ends are connected by longitudinal rods 6 with another cross bar 7 also passing through slots 8 in the beams 1 behind the draft rigging broadly designated by the letter D in Fig. 3. Mounted for longitudinal reciprocation within said channel is a hollow shell 9 carrying at its front end what might be called the draw-head 10, the rear end of the shell being preferably closed at 11 and projected thence to the rear through the draft mechanism D by means of a stem whose coaction with the draft spring and the buffer spring is that which usually takes place in these devices. The front end of the head 10 is of any approved shape to cause it to mate with the front end of the companion drawhead, and is best seen in Fig. 5 as struck on an ogee curve as at 12. Within this head are disposed two upright pins or bolts 13 and 14, standing one forward of the other, and a little to one side of the transverse center of the head; and in the top and bottom plates of the latter are formed guide slots 15, each curving part way around the rear pin 13, and then part way around the front pin 14 as best seen in Fig. 5, and the entire slot standing to the opposite side of a median line along the center of the head from the pins. The knuckle (best seen in Fig. 6) is located within this head and is substantially or nearly U-shaped in plan View, having two arms 20 and 21 with a tongue 22 between them, and upwardly and downwardly projecting bosses 23 at the intersection of the arms and the tongue, the bosses being pierced with alined holes through which passes a bolt 24, and the eX- tremities of said bolt moving in the guide slots 15. The outer end of the arm 20 is dished as at 25 for a purpose yet to appear, and near the outer end of the other arm 21 it is provided with an upright hole through which passes a bolt 26 on which is pivotally mounted the inner end of a loop 27. This loop is of such length that it projects beyond the front end 12 of the draw-head 10 loop.

are brought together until the front ends 12 I as seen at 28, and its function is ultimately to engage with the dished end 25 of the arm 20 of the companion knuckle as seen in Fig. 12 and as will be described below.

Mounted loosely within the shell 9 in rear of the knuckle is a knuckle arm or link 30, best seen in Fig. 8, and this link is bifurcated at its front end as at 31 and its arms Y provided with holes 32 for receiving the pivot bolt 24 when these arms pass over the;

extremities of the bosses 23. The link and knuckle are shown assembled and connected in Fig. 5. The rear end of the link 30 is also shown as bifurcated or forked as at 33,

42, cranks 43 extending forward from this shaft between the two beams 1, and a link or links 44 pivotally connecting the outer,

ends of said cranks with a latch block best seen in Fig. 7 This block 45 has a rounded rear end 46 which rests upon the bottomof the shell 9 andagainst the closed rear end 11- thereof as best seen in Fig. 4, and said rear end of the blockmay also have stub shafts 47 projecting from its sides and dropped into grooves 48 formed in the side walls of said shell and extending out the upper edge thereof as best seen in Fig. 4. The function-of these shafts and grooves is to absolutely prevent the blocks from being drawn or jiggled forward withinthe shell, while yet permitting its rear end to be lifted out of place for inspection or repair; and yet the rounded rear extremity 46'of the block always rests reliably against the rear end of said shell. Obviously the partial rotation of the rockshaft by means of its handles 42 will cause its cranks43 and the link 44 toraise the front end of the block,.which end is preferably cut offfiat as indicated at 49.

V Vith this construction ofparts, the operation of this improved ear coupling as far as has been described will be as follows, reference being had to Figs. 9, 10, 11 and 12: It will be understood that with the cars uncou )led and the arts standin flintheir norl 1:

mal positions, the tendency of the springs within the draft rigging D will be to move the stem and the shell 9 and head lO relatively to the front, and to draw relatively to the rear the mechanism therein consisting essentially of the link, the knuckle, and its lVhen now two cars are coupled, they of their heads 10 come into contact with each other, at which time the loops 27 overlie as seen in Fig. 9, and pressure against the two heads causes the two shells to move rearward, each of course carrying with it its pin 13 and 14. The result is that each bolt 24 starts to move forward within the guide slots 15, and the tongue 22 is passed around the pm 13 and between it and the front pin 14 or in other words the entire knuckle rocks. lVhen it has made a substantially quarter revolution, its bolt 24 passes from the rear convolution of the slot 15 into the angle between it and the front convolution, just at a time when the tongue projects straight between the two pins; and meanwhile the two loops 27 further overlie the respectively op posite knuckles as seen in Fig. 10. Continued approach'of the two cars causes the knuckles to rock still farther around the outer pins 14 so that they assume the positions shown in Fig. 11. And finally the outer ends '28 of the two loops pass over the arm 20, of the-knuckles and engage the dished front ends 25 thereof as shown in Fig. 12, at which time the cars are reliably connected together and the front ends 12 of the two heads are in strict contact with each other. Just at this moment the shells have been moved relatively so far to the rear that the two latch blocks 45 drop down behind the two blocks 36, by reason of the weight of the front ends 49 of the former, and the result is that the parts are locked in this position. Attention is directed to the fact that each coupling is connected at two points with the other coupling, one point where the front end 28 of its loop engages with the dished end 25 of the armof the other'coupling, and the other point where the corresponding end of the loop of the other coupling engages with the end'25of the arm of the first-named coupling, The result of this compound connection between thetwo draw-heads is that cars so coupledcan turn a five degree curve with ease, and can travel over the sharpest switches and cross-overs without the necessity for the beams 1 belng pivoted or hinged beneaththe bed of the car in any manner. It will be obvious that the two knuckles, now standing reversed or with their'eurved sides forward as seen in Fig. 12, and with their pivot bolts 24 in the front ends of the slots 15, may rock over these bolts as the cars pass around a curve; but whatever their pbsition within their respective drawheads, the pull of one loop 27 is against the other loop and there fore the knuckles will remain parallel with each other and the draft will be centered upon the two bolts 24, whether the cars are progressing along a straight line or around a curve. Thisgives great flexibility to the coupling, without in the least producing conditions under which accidental uncoupling might takeplace. In order to uncouple, both'rockshafts 40 must be turned,

with the result that each crank'43 throughthe links 44 raises the front end 49 of its latch block 45, so that said front end passes out from behind the block 36 and the springs within the draft rigging cause the rearward movement of the shell 9 relatively to the parts within it. The result is that the knuckles on both cars commerce a return movement from the position shown in Fig. 1:2, through the positions shown in Figs. 11 and 10, back to the initial position shown in Fig. 9, when the cars are entirely disconnected.

l/Vhile I have shown a crank 43 at each end of the rock shaft 40, it is obvious that any suitable operating or actuating mechanism may be connected with said rod or, in fact, could be led down through the platform of the car directly to the free end of the latch block 45, so that the latter could be raised by an operator within the car or upon the platform, instead of by one standing on the ground. However, it will be obvious that in order to uncouple the cars it is necessary to raise both latch blocks 45, although it is not necessary that they should be raised simultaneously. The reason for this is that each latch block holds the parts within its shell connected with the knuckle of the other coupling; and, while disconnection could be made first in one coupling and then in the other, it must eventually be made in both couplings in order to entirely disconnect them.

The draft rigging best seen in Figs. 14 and 15, and in section in Fig. 4, is by preference constructed as follows when the beams 1 are of wood, and metal plates 2 are secured to their inner faces. Each of these plates is of about the shape shown in Fig. 14, and it carries one-half of the casing 50 containing the springs, and through.

which casing the stem 53 of the draw-head projects, said stem being slotted as at 8 for the passage of the cross bar 7 above referred to. Fig. 13 shows that the sides of the shell 9 are slotted as at 4 for the passage of the other cross bar 5 above referred to. The two parts or halves 50 of the casing are connected with each other by pins or bolts 51, when the parts are assembled; and through bolts 52 hold the beams 1, plates 2, and casing-halves 50 in assembled position, while the plate 3 supports the front end of the draw-bar. Within said casing is disposed the draft spring 54 (see Fig. 4) whose front end rests against the front eX tremity of the casing and Whose rear end rests against a washer 55 which latter loosely surrounds the stem 53 forward of a collar 56 through which the stem slides freely. This collar bears against the rear cross bar 7 and hence the tendency of the draft spring 54 is to press said cross bar to the rear as usual. Closely surrounding the stem and located within the draft spring is the buffer spring 58 which is of less strength than the draft spring. The rear end of the buffer spring bears against the washer 55, and its front end against a head 59 which is an enlargement at the rear end 11 of the drawbar, connecting the latter with the stem 53. The tendency of the draft spring is therefore to bear the movable parts in the drawbar as far rearward as the length of the casing 50 will permit, and the tendency of the buffer spring is to bear the draw-bar itself forward as far as possible simultaneously, but with less force. These springs 54 and 58 also serve their usual and well-known functions in the draft rigging, and an amplification thereof need not be given at this point.

In order that the rock shaft 40 may be taken out of place, it is by preference made in two parts which lead inward through the plates 2 and have their inner ends reduced and lapped as seen at 60 in Fig. 16. Any suitable form of clamp 61 may be employed for holding the inner ends in their lapped condition, and next against the ends of this clamp lie the cranks 43 whose outer ends are connected with the links 44 as described above. When it is desired to disconnect the parts, the clamp is removed from the lapped inner ends 60 of the two-part shaft and these parts may be drawn out of place.

I claim:

1. In a car coupling, the combination with a shell-like draw-bar having a closed rear end, and a latch block resting against said end; of a locking block within the drawbar, yielding means for moving it to the rear when said latch block is raised, a substantially U-shaped knuckle in the front end of said draw bar, connections between it and said locking block, and means for rocking said knuckle within the head as it is moved back and forth therein.

2. In a car coupling, the combination with a hollow draw-bar, a latch block pivotally mounted in the rear end thereof, and means for raising and lowering it; of a locking block within the draw-bar, yielding means for moving it normally to the rear when said latch block is raised, a substantially U- shaped knuckle in the head at the front end of said draw-bar, one extremity of one of its arms being dished, a loop pivoted to the eX- tremity of the other arm, connections between the mid-length of said knuckle and said locking block, and means for rocking the knuckle within the draw-head as it is moved back and forth therein.

3. In a car coupling, the combination with a hollow draw-bar having slots in its sides, and a vertically movable latch at its rear end; of a cross bar movably mounted in said slots, a locking block on said bar, means for bearing the latter to the rear with yielding force, a rocking knuckle in the front end of the draw-bar, a link pivotally connecting the mid-length of :the knuckle withsaid locking block, and means for turning the knuckle as it is moved back and forth.

4. In a car coupling, the combination with a'hollow draw-bar, a link movably mounted therein, and means for moving said link to the rear with yielding force; of a substantially U-shaped knuckle in the draw-head at the front end of said draw-bar, an upright pivot bolt through its bend, the top and bottom of the draw-head having slots in which the extremities of said bolt move, a fork at the front end of said link whose arms are mounted on said bolt, and a loop connected with one arm of the knuckle.

5. In a car coupling, the combination with a hollow draw-bar, a link movably mounted therein, and means for moving said link to the rear with yielding force; of a substantially U-shaped knuckle in the draw-head at the front end of said draw-bar, an upright pivot bolt through its bend, the top and bottom of the draw-head having slots in which the extremities of said bolt move, a tongue projecting from the bend of said knuckle between its arms, upright pins through the draw-head and between which said tongue projects as the knuckle rocks, a fork at the front end of said link whose arms are mounted on said bolt, and a loop connected with one arm of the knuckle.

6. In a car coupling, the combination with a hollow draw-head having at one side of its center a pair of upright pins, one forward of the other, and in its top and bottom at the other side of said center corresponding arcuate slots struck on curves around said pins and'meeting each other in angles; of a substantially U-shaped knuckle having a tongue projecting rigidly from its bend between its arms and adapted to pass between said pins as the knuckle is rocked, a pivot bolt extending through the bend of said knuckle and with its extremities moving insaid slots, a loop pivotally connected to one arm of said knuckle, and means for moving the latter bodily forward and backward, for the purpose set forth.

7. In a car coupling, the combination wlth a hollow draw-head having at one side of its center a pair of upright pins, one forward of the other, and in its top and bottom at the other side of said center corresponding arcuate slots struck on curves around said pins and meeting each other in angles; of a substantially U-shaped knuckle having a tongue projecting rigidly from its bend between its arms and adapted to pass between said pins as the knuckle is rocked, a pivot bolt extending through the bend of said knuckle and with its extremities moving in said slots, a loop connected to onearm of said knuckle, a link bifurcated at its front end and with its arms havin holes pivotally mounted on the ends of sai pivot-bolt, and

means for bearing the link normally to the rear within the draw-head with yielding force, for the purpose set forth.

8. In a car coupling, the combination with a "hollow draw-head having upright pins one forward of the other, and in its top and bottom a-rcuate slots struck on curves 7 around said pins and meeting each other in angles; of a substantially U-shaped knuckle having a tongue projecting rigidly from its bend "between its arms and adapted to passv between said pins as the knuckle is rocked, bosses rising fromsaid bend and pierced with alined holes, a loop pivotally mounted in the outer end of one arm. of the knuckle, the extremity of the other arm being dished, a link having a bifurcated front end whose arms pass above and belowsaid bosses and are pierced with holes, a pivot bolt passing through'the bosses and the holes in the bifurcation and with its extremities moving in said slots, and means for bearing the link normally to the rear within the drawhead with set forth.

9. In a car coupling, the combination with a draw-head having a pair of upright pins therethrough, one forward of the other cars are coupled so that its tongue engages said pins and causes the knuckle to reverse its position, substantially as described.

-10. In a car coupling, the combination with a hollow draw-bar having a pair of upyielding force, for the'purpose' right pins therethrough, one forward of the 1 other, and slots in its side walls, a substantially U-shaped knuckle having a tongue projecting rigidly between its arms and of v a size to pass between said pins, a cross bar passing through said slots, and connections between said bar and the mid-length of the knuckle; of a stem projecting to the rear from the draw-bar, rods projecting to the rear from the extremities of said cross bar, yielding means for bearing said stem normally forward and said rods normally rearward, and a movable latch block within the draw-bar in rear of said cross bar.

11. In a car coupling, the combination with a hollow draw-bar having a pair of upright pins therethrough, one forward of the other, and slots in its side walls, a substantially U-shaped knuckle having a tongue projecting rigidly between its arms and of a size to pass between said pins, a cross bar passing through said slots, and connections between said bar and the mid-length of the knuckle; of a stem projecting to the rear latch in the draw-bar in rear of the forward from the draw-bar and having a longitudicross bar. 10 nal slot, at cross bar projecting through this In testimony whereof I affiX my signature slot, side rods connecting the extremities of in presence of two Witnesses.

this cross bar and the other cross bar named ISAAC GAUSE. above, a spring bearing the rear cross bar Witnesses:

normally to the rear, a Weaker spring bear- CALVIN REED,

ing the stem normally to the front, and a JOHN FARRELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G. 

